5 Simple Food Swaps for a Healthier Life
If you cook at home regularly, you’re already one step ahead in the healthy eating game! Eating restaurant meals often means consuming tons of sodium and artery-clogging trans fats—and your wallet is the only thing getting lighter.
So here are 5 simple food swaps you can make at home to feel more energized and healthy, along with some dazzling images made using BeFunky!
Swap Whole Fruit for Fruit Juice
You may not be aware that while you enjoy that glass or two of OJ every morning, you’re also downing the equivalent of a giant candy bar worth of sugar with it.
Yes, fruit juice has vitamins and minerals… but since its calories come entirely from sugar, you’ll crash later (not so ideal for starting out your day!)
Instead, opt for whole fruit, which contains fiber that keeps you full throughout the day. You’ll get the full benefits of the fruit in its most natural state, without the super sugar spike (a cup of orange juice contains the sugar of several oranges.)
Now, let's make an awesome graphic to share this healthy swap!
Open the Collage Maker and under Templates, select Grids and choose the template with 2 squares side-by-side. Then fill in your images!
Now let's add some cool text to this graphic. I'm going to use 2 different fonts to really make this graphic really engaging, then I'll add in a few graphics from the Design Elements area to amp up the fun factor.
A green checkmark for the "eat this" food... and a red star for "not that!"
Here's our final product, after coloring the design elements and adding the text to both images!
Swap Spinach + Kale for Iceberg Lettuce
Salads are a great vehicle for bringing tons of superfoods and veggies into your diet. And while iceberg or romaine are fine, spinach and kale are PACKED with powerful nutrients like Vitamins K and A, iron and calcium. May as well pack as big a punch as possible!
You can use a half-and-half mix to sneak these powerful greens into your salad.
Another great reason to chow on these dark leafy greens? It's a great excuse to create awesome recipe graphics for your salads using the Collage Maker:
Oh hey! Wanna know how that's done? :)
Again we're going into the Collage Maker, and this time select the grid with the shape above. We'll up load our image (edit in Photo Editor if you like!) and the color for the side... then I'm going to open the red background up in the Photo Editor so we can play with the texture.
You can have a blast playing around with all these different textures! Personally, I love this Fabric texture for our recipe graphic.
Now, just click back on the graphic in the bottom left to take you back to the Collage Maker. Here is where we add in the text for our recipe and add a cool background color to finish it off!
Voila!
Swap Quinoa or Brown Rice for White Rice
Not only is white rice boooooring, but it provides nearly no nutritional value - and actually has about the same effect on your body as regular white sugar.
So instead of spiking your blood sugar levels with your delicious stir-fry, sub your white rice for brown! You’ll get a delicious, chewy texture along with way more fiber and protein than the super-processed white variety.
And if you’re feeling explorative, try quinoa instead! This gluten-free super-grain is actually considered a protein, as it contains about 8g protein per cup and 5g fiber—along with tons of vitamins and minerals, too.
Swap Oatmeal for Regular Cereal
That daily morning bowl of cereal may be a comforting routine, but chances are it’s not doing much for you nutritionally! Most cereal (yes, even the healthy-looking kind!) is super-processed and gives you more sugar than anything else.
Now I know what you’re thinking. Oatmeal is boring, it’s mushy…but my friend, let me introduce you to the world of creative oatmeal.
This grain is not only packed with protein and fiber to keep you full all morning, but it’s the perfect vehicle for the most DELICIOUS breakfast creations you can imagine.
Pumpkin pie oatmeal… banana bread oatmeal… chocolate chia cranberry oatmeal…french toast oatmeal….the sky (and your imagination) is literally the limit!
Swap Veggie Chips for Potato Chips
We know the drill… it’s not quite dinner yet, your favorite show is about to start, and you’re feeling snacky. Don’t destroy your healthy habits by reaching into that potato chip bag…because that game never ends well!
Instead, spread some kale leaves or sweet potato strips on a baking sheet, drizzle with olive oil, sprinkle with salt and toss them in the oven. Soon you’ll be munching on some bangin’ kale chips and sweet potato fries!
And if you just can’t wait that long…raw veggies can get you that crunchy satisfaction! Snap peas, carrots, and cucumber in hummus or salsa are all a super healthy alternative to chips as a snack.
So if you're as obsessed with photographing your food creations as I am, let's see what healthy foodie creations you come up with!
